February 2008
 
Background: The Senate report accompanying the 2007 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill required the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review DOD’s master planning effort for the military buildup on Guam.  Accordingly, GAO is reviewing the status of DOD’s master planning effort for the buildup of forces and infrastructure on Guam, and the extent that DOD has identified and addressed infrastructure and funding requirements, base operation and support services, training and mobility capabilities, joint basing opportunities, and other challenges associated with the buildup in this planning effort.   As part of its review, the GAO is seeking to gain information on the challenges Guam faces in accommodating thousands of military personnel and dependents as a result of overseas rebasing actions.  
 
In October 2006, the U.S. Government Accountability Office conducted its first assessment on the challenges that Guam faced as the Department of Defense (DOD) expected its population of military personnel and dependents to increase from 14,190 to 40,380 due to the relocation of the III Marine Expeditionary Force from Okinawa, Japan to Guam and due to other military buildups.  At that time, the only information Guam had available to it on the proposed buildup was the Guam Integrated Military Development Plan, which was released on a DOD website and then immediately taken down, and news articles from Japan and other international sources.  Since that first GAO assessment, the Subcommittees of the Civilian Military Task Force (CMTF), created by Executive Order 2006-10 by Governor Felix P. Camacho, have been meeting to identify impacts and to plan for the buildup.  Communication between the Department of Defense, DOD’s Joint Guam Program Office and the Government of Guam on the impending military buildup has increased. Overall, the amount of information and the quality of information that is being conveyed remains to be limited and the Government of Guam continues to find itself unable to effectively plan for the buildup in most sectors.    

 

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